As was the case last season, the Seton Hall Pirates have been unable to avoid the injury bug for much of the 2013-14 season. Patrik Auda, Fuquan Edwin and Aaron Geramipoor all missed time due to injury, and the same went for senior center Eugene Teague after he suffered a terrifying fall in the Pirates’ win over Lafayette on December 27.

Averaging 10.8 points and 9.4 rebounds per game, Teague is a key figure in Kevin Willard’s attack with the Pirates lacking depth in the post. With Teague sidelined with a concussion the Pirates lost three of four games to open Big East play, with the lone victory being a double-overtime thriller at Providence in the conference opener for both.

The wait for Teague’s return may be coming to an end however, as according to Mike Vorkunov the Newark Star-Ledgerthe senior is expected to make his return to the lineup on Saturday when the Pirates visit Georgetown. However, even with the hurdle being cleared it will take Teague some time to get back in the condition that allowed him to play nearly 26 minutes per game before the injury.

There is still the physical nature of his comeback, though. He only began practicing this week and Willard said that Teague is as much as a week-and-a-half away from returning to his previous aerobic form.

Willard will monitor Teague’s minutes against Georgetown, unlikely to play him for more than three minutes at a time. Still, the coach expects there to be some moments where Teague will be affected by his endurance.

With Georgetown being shorthanded itself (eight scholarship players were available for their loss at Xavier on Wednesday), this could be an opportunity for the Pirates to turn things in the right direction after losing games to Creighton, Villanova and Marquette. In those defeats the Pirates averaged just 66.3 points per game, just over ten points off of their average for the season (78.6 ppg).

Now that Teague’s been cleared to return to the court Seton Hall has their best low-post scorer back in the fold, which should help players such as Auda, Edwin and guard Sterling Gibbs offensively as he gets back to game shape.